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An already difficult year for fundraisers due to the COVID-19 pandemic got worse for the Friendship Volunteer Fire Company when the boiler system that heats the building and water went down, forcing the cancellation of the monthly dinners, costing the fire company nearly $3,000 a month in revenue.
Shaina Musselman, fire company president, said the fire hall has three boilers that heat the building and the water. Last fall the boilers began to fail and by January, they were down to one boiler.
Not wanting to put a strain on the remaining boiler, the fire company had to cancel the dinners.
Musselman said that heating the garage through the winter to prevent the trucks from freezing was the priority, and without hot water to comply with health standards for washing dishes, the dinners had to be put on hold.
“We didn’t want to risk pushing the one remaining boiler to the point that it failed, and we ended up with no heat at all,” she said.
Musselman said the fire company lost around $35,000 in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the cancellation of fundraisers, and the loss of the dinners started adding up. And that’s were a neighboring fire company stepped up to help.
The Southern Cove Volunteer Fire Company is hosting a drive-through turkey dinner this Sunday, April 25, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Replogle building in New Enterprise, with all proceeds going to Roaring Spring to help pay for a new boiler and get their own dinners up and running.
Emily States, assistant chief of Southern Cove, said fire company members got together and offered to host the dinner to benefit their “brothers.”
“What fire companies are facing is difficult enough with the pandemic,” she said. “Not being able to hold their dinners was really a hit for them and we wanted to step up and help.”
Musselman said Southern Cove’s offer is an example of the family dynamic firefighters from different companies share.
“It’s a brotherhood,” she said. “It says a lot about the firefighting community stepping up when someone is in need.”
The new boiler system costs around $75,000 and Musselman said work has begun on getting a new one in place. Kinsely and Sons of Bedford have taken out the old boilers and will begin installing the new system next week. Musselman said if all goes as planned, the work should be finished by the end of April.
Musselman said Southern Cove’s offer to host the dinner will not only help financially, but will also provide the neighboring companies with an opportunity to get to know each other on a more personal level.
“It will be nice to work with them,” she said. “We work with them on scene at calls but we don’t get to hang out with them, so it will be nice to spend this weekend together and get to know each other on a more personal basis.”
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